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Guest Contributor – Ed Brault – 03FEB2025 – The Dreaded White Stuff

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Good luck with the snow. I grew up on the MA North Shore and then 40 years on the Northern Tier with the Air Force and Army. Heartily agree about freezing rain. We lost power for 27 days in Plattsburgh NY due to an ice storm back in ’98 (Thank Ghu for wood stoves and oil lamps), and saw a lot of VERY slick road and dead-stopped traffic due to iced pavement. Major reason for moving to South Carolina in 2014. And what happens in 2015? The first snow in 40 years, followed by more of the cussed stuff 10 years later! I tell ya I don’t get no respect!

Zero

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This week we saw the last of Jim Acosta and Chuck Todd.  Now each of them made farewell statements on air promising that they would be back bigger and better in some self-branded sub-stack-like-blog avatar sometime soon.  Well, sure.  So, did Don Lemon but when was the last time anyone remembers seeing him since his exit from CNN?  Exactly.

So, this got me thinking.  NBC’s parent company is kicking MSNBC to the curb (technically spinning it off) and at the same time lightening the boat of such flotsam and jetsam as Chuck Todd that isn’t bringing in cash anymore.  And CNN is likewise giving the boot to someone as partisan and rancorous as Jim Acosta and plenty of other dead wood that is cluttering up their studio and tanking their ratings with the majority of American viewers.

Could this be the beginning of a new template for media companies?  Could they be thinking of telling the truth?  Well, not the whole truth of course.  But maybe something close to the truth, or truth adjacent, or a reasonable facsimile of the truth?  Well, probably not.  But maybe they are picking up on the fact that about 70% of the country know they’ve been lying about everything from Russia gate, to COVID, to how the war in Ukraine is going, to what puberty blockers do to children, to how many illegal aliens are in the country, to how much crime is happening around us, to how senile Joe Biden was, to how stupid Kamala Harris is, etc., etc., etc.

Has the loss of credibility gone so far that these companies can’t make enough money to keep dolts like Acosta and Todd on the payroll anymore?  I think the answer is a resounding yes.  After all these people make millions of dollars a year.  Think about that.  Not only does Rachel Maddow make 25 million dollars a year but even Joy Reid (Joy Reid!) makes millions of dollars a year.  If your company is losing money and you’re paying Joy Reid more than minimum wage you’re doing something terribly wrong.

It seems clear that in the new media landscape we are going to see things dry up for talentless hacks who think they’re actual reporters.  CNN realized that news is being made by Donald Trump and his cabinet.  The chances of Jim Acosta getting an interview with Donald Trump are precisely zero.  Therefore, his value to CNN is the same; zero.  And that goes for Chuck Todd.  During his tenure on Meet the Press he was one of the most partisan and mendacious talking heads on television.  None of the incoming administration will bother talking with him.  He’s just a short, balding guy with a beard who no one wants anything to do with.  So, he’s gone.

But who’s next?  Well, if I were guessing I’d say anyone who makes an eight-figure salary has a bullseye on his back for sure.  As seen recently with Maddow, taking a pay cut may be one of the ways to stick around for a while.  But honestly, I think most of the suits running the networks are going to be looking to remove a zero from the paychecks of the media darlings they’ve been paying all these years.  And even that isn’t going to be enough.  We’re used to ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC.  I think that’s a temporary situation.  I think in another year or two the number of those networks will be half.  Maybe ABC, Fox and pick one more.

And a similar thing may be going on with the print media.  The New York Times seems to have stabilized its revenue.  But the Washington Post is tanking.  So is the Los Angeles Times.  And so are many of the daily papers.  Let’s face it, most liberals can probably get along just reading the New York Times.  Maybe the right will adopt the Wall Street Journal (that is, if it stops leaning so far left as it has lately).  But for the most part people get their news from the internet; YouTube and X.  Small shops are able to make a living by providing factual coverage.  Sure, they still slant it for their niche customers.  But at least it still has some semblance of reality to it.  So where does that leave the Acostas and Todds of the world?  Unemployed.

You know this is a perfect time for Fox News to make a conscious effort to separate their opinion and news once and for all.  And also develop a policy on the news side to report it right down the middle with no slant at all.  I’d actually be willing to pay a small fee to get that kind of news coverage.  But let’s face it.  What’s the chance of something like that happening?  Zero.

Back When Darren Stevens Was Still on Madison Avenue

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Even the commercials were better back in the old days when we were allowed to be happy.  The guys writing the commercials could write clever lyrics and even add a spritely tune for good measure.  Now?  Not so much.

Maybe President Trump can make MAGA also mean “Make Ads Great Again.”

 

 

Ten Days of Trump

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It’s good to be home again.  Also today I picked up my photography computer from the local cyber-surgeons.  There was considerable sticker shock (yikes) for the new motherboard and processor and some adjustment for the new hardware (adapters, cables and such nonsense) but I’m back in business with my photos again.  I haven’t really tested out it’s capabilities but the tech guy told me the new processor will be ridiculously faster than my old system.  I can’t wait to try importing a thousand raw files and see how quickly it “renders” them.  But enough geeking out.

I had my usual Wednesday virtual coffee break with the boys from the old firm.  I have to say the giddiness is getting a bit ridiculous.  Can unbridled enthusiasm be considered a form of backwards Trump Derangement Syndrome?  There’s just too much laughing and optimism.  It seems unnatural.  Someone was claiming that Trump was talking of eliminating the Income Tax altogether.  Now that just sounds nuts.  But the angle was to switch over to a consumption tax.  I have to confess that would suit me fine.  But is everything going to be revolutionized?  What’s next?  Will all the currency be made over with pictures of The Donald?  Will Trump’s signature hairstyle be added to George Washington on Mt. Rushmore to update the monument?  Will the end of the Pledge of Allegiance be modified to “one nation under God with liberty and justice and so much winning for all?”  Have Trump’s words from the 2016 election come true? Is it too much winning?

Well … no.  I’ll put up with more winning.

There are still more things we need fixed.  First of all, Kash Patel still hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.  That means there are hundreds of Stasi agents still working for the FBI.  Once he’s had a chance to clean house, I’ll have a better idea how much more winning is needed.  In fact, you know what I want to see?  I want Trump to issue executive orders categorically forbidding Patriot Act or FISA Court actions against American citizens during his administration.  Let’s have at least four years without our constitutional rights to due process being violated by tinpot Thought Police.

You see, that’s what happens when Trump starts issuing executive orders by the metric ton.  We start assuming he can do anything.  And then we become impatient if he hasn’t read our minds and already done the stuff we just thought of.  Why hasn’t there been a special prosecutor empowered to go after Joy Reid for being an eyesore on television.  Surely having her on cable tv is a form of cruel and unusual punishment for all of us.  And what about the “ladies” of the View.  Surely someone can turn the show into some kind of dunk tank / lie detector suspense show where Joy Behar or Whoopie Goldberg or one of the other crones is hooked up to a lie detector and asked a question about Donald Trump or some other conservative she hates and if she lies about something, like whether he’s been convicted or rape, she falls into a water tank filled with sharks or piranha fish and has to swim for her life to a distant ladder.  I bet the ratings would be through the roof.  So that’s kind of where I am right now.  For the most part I’m happy with Trump 2.0.  But a few little tweaks couldn’t hurt.

Well, that’s enough ranting for now.  I’ll be waiting to see how Patel, Kennedy and Gabbard do in the Senate next week.  If all three get through, Trump will have most of his core team in place and he can really get started with draining the swamp and taming the Leviathan.

So far so good.

Times that Try Men’s Souls

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One step forward two steps back.  Ah, the slings and arrows or outrageous fortune.  Last week the mainframe that I keep my photos and editing software on died a terrible death.  I had hoped at first that maybe the power supply had given out.  I sent it off to the local computer geeks with this dream of a call back the next day about how a wire had come loose or a fuse had blown and all was well.  Yeah.  Not so much.

I received the dreaded news that, “The motherboard is fried and all you can reuse is the case, drives and the fans.”

The horror.

Well, at least my photos didn’t go up the chimney so that’s good.  But this has put a kink in my photo-editing schedule.  For the last week I’ve been scouring my camera memory card for stuff to post and I’m reaching the bottom of the barrel.  I’ll need some more stuff really soon.  Plus, I can’t use my favorite editing software or the big monitors I usually use.  Well maybe I can, but I’d have to fiddle around with the wires and I’m too lazy to do it as a one-off.  But I must be stoic.  As the bard reminds us, “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods;  They kill us for their sport.”

Or something like that.

But not everything was bad this week.  I decided on a path forward for my story.  If you remember in the last installment, I had my good guys strike back at the vicious President of the United States who had hurled a 10-megaton nuke into their underground retreat.  As a counter attack they undermined the White House, the US Capitol, the Pentagon and a few other key federal buildings and sent them hurtling hundreds of feet into the underground abyss.  This effectively decapitated the United States federal government.  Specifically, the president, vice president, the congress and the cabinet secretaries are all dead.

What I’ve decided to do is arrange for the only honest man in the FBI to be selected to succeed the president.  And this is the guy who I’ve been using to track down my protagonist and his sponsors.

So, the antagonist I have who has been hunting for the sniper is selected for succession to the presidency.  In part he is selected for the knowledge he’s gained hunting the sniper and the organization supporting him.  But because the head of the FBI had been assassinated earlier, he was also the acting head of the bureau.  Of course, that isn’t technically in the line of succession for the presidency but with all the legitimate successors dead, the military and the supreme court put their heads together and after doing an inventory of who was left and who was willing, they chose my guy.

Now this is an outrageous scenario.  And so, it’s really a lot of fun to poke around with.  And because it’s so outlandish I can do more or less whatever seems like fun with it.  I have the poor schnook summoned to a military base and he’s thinking that he’s about to be blamed for the catastrophic failure of the manhunt for the sniper and instead he’s being asked if he will accept the presidency.  That’s a pretty great scene.  I think I’m going to have him ask if he can work remote from home.  That would be a nice touch.  I think that’s what I would ask for.

So anyway, the story is moving forward.  So that’s good.

Camera Girl laid down the law today and had me put the weatherstripping around the basement door.  She found where I had hidden the supplies and brought them out to me.  So, I grumbled and dragged myself over to the door and did it.  And you know, it really made a big difference.  But I really did a lousy job installing it and I’m planning to redo it and add a sweep to the bottom of the door.  Funny how these home improvement projects can grow on you.

And looking around at the Trump juggernaut I see he’s making headway in all directions.  He’s travelling to North Carolina and Los Angeles to get involved with the hurricane and fire victims.  And tonight, JD Vance was the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.  Collins, Murkowski and good old Mitch McConnell were the holdouts that made Vance’s vote necessary.  Well, that’s why we needed the other Senate pickups last November.  But things are looking up everywhere in Trump world.

So that’s my post, a little this and little that.

22JAN2025 – Country Song for the Morning Sugarland – Very Last Country Song

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Sugarland is what I would call hippie country music.  They’re doubtlessly godless communists.  But they have produced some superb music.  I think this is one of their best.  The images and emotions it summons up are achingly beautiful.  Well done you drug-addled hippies.  Well done.

 

The Time for Speeches

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We got the promised four inches of snow last night so I had to clear it this morning.  I didn’t get out there until ten-thirty so I was busy when Trump was sworn in.  After a shower and lunch, I put on the video and listened.

Well, Donald Trump did his thing.  He gave a half hour address and he surely went to town.  I think he touched almost all the bases.  He left out the J6 pardons which did surprise me.  But other than that (and I guess Greenland) he went through the litany of actions and policies that he promised during the campaign.  And I gotta tell ya, it was pretty great.

Now I have to be honest, I do get tired of all the pauses for applause.  They’re not really necessary.  But some of them were justified.  When he said he was going to end government racial and sexual interference in people’s lives I’m pretty sure I gave off a whoop.  And when he said that he was going to restore freedom of speech by putting a stop to all government interference with speech I smiled.  And when he said that there are officially two genders (he meant sexes) recognized by the United States government I think I may have clapped.

He said the government would put an end to the sexual struggle sessions in the military.  And he said he would be declaring a national emergency at the southern border.  He said he will be reinstating the stay in Mexico policy for people seeking asylum.  He said he’s taking the Panama Canal back and he said he’s declaring the cartels terrorist organizations.  He said he’s ending the Green New Deal and the Electric Car subsidies.  He said he’s going to “drill baby drill.”  He said he’s going to restore impartial justice and end lawfare.  And he said that God saved his life to give him the chance to restore America to greatness.

He said everything.  He didn’t take a swing at Joe Biden but nobody’s perfect.

Alright, good.  He got his say and all those applause lines and he criticized his opponents and their awful policies.  Splendid.

But Inauguration Day is one day.  Tomorrow, I want to hear what you’ve done for me lately.  We all went to a lot of trouble to drag our butts down to the Middle School cafeteria to vote for you.  We did that even though we believed there was a better than even chance that the Democrats would steal this election too.  So, we’ve gone out on a limb to look like saps for you Mr. President, so it’s time for you to have your minions sweep up the confetti and busted balloons and roll up their sleeves and actually check off one or two items off of that list of promises you made today.

And how about starting with the J6 pardons?  That’s the one that is most urgent.  These people have been shut away for years for misdemeanors or for nothing in some cases.  Setting them free is the right thing to do and it’s the smart thing to do too.  He shouldn’t wait.  He owes them that.

After that, shut down the FBI.  That’s a no-brainer.  After that just start putting the wheels in motion for all of the stuff that takes time to get moving.  Call up the yahoos in the Senate and get your appointees confirmed and let’s get this show on the road.  The time for speeches is over.

Update:

I saw last night that he did sign pardons for about 1,500 J6 prisoners.  Good. 

We’re All Rooting for You

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The snow is falling pretty fast here in Dunwich.  It’s starting to cover the ice over the swamp and pretty soon it will force the lycanthropes back into their caves along the bases of the hills.  And that will quiet the howling that kept me up last week.  It’s always annoying when the moon is full.  Between the howling and the scratching at the door and the screaming of the stranded motorists who get eaten alive while walking down the road for help it’s a real pain.  I mean come on, have some consideration for other people.  Either be eaten alive in stoic silence or bring a revolver loaded with silver bullets.  It’s not that complicated.  Read the town ordinances.  Your survivors are going to be fined for the after-hours noise violation so use your head.

Trump says he is going to un-classify and reveal the remaining records from the Kennedy (JFK and RFK) and King assassinations.  Now that’s pretty great.  People have been teasing these things for scores of years.  Of course, I’m not assuming that the records are the truth.  Probably they don’t say anything definitive about anything.  But the veil of secrecy has been used like some magic spell to keep us wondering what the people in the know don’t want us to know since we were kids.  At this point I doubt we’ll ever know what actually happened but at least they can stop acting like we’re peons who can’t be trusted with the higher mysteries of the cult.  But right now, I am excited to hope maybe there are names like Castro or Khruschev or the CIA or the Mob.  That would be like a Tom Clancey novel instead of that nit-wit Oswald.

It’s funny.  A month ago, if you asked me whether I thought I’d be excited about Trump’s inauguration I’d’ve said absolutely not.  But I’m surprised to say that’s not the case.  I am looking forward to it and excited about the prospect of someone on my side taking over and beginning the daunting task of chopping away at the roots of the monster that ate the United States.  I just read today that this year Argentina had its first budget surplus in fourteen years.  Wouldn’t it be a miracle if Trump could make that happen in 2026?

And maybe tomorrow he’ll hand out pardons to the J6 prisoners.  That would breathe life into the base and bring tears to the eyes of Garland and his stooges.  And while he’s at it he should use an executive order to provide recompense and apologies to anyone the US government punished for not getting a COVID shot.  Now that’s overdue.

But before anything else, give Kash Patel the keys to the J Edgar Hoover Building and have him begin the process of emptying the offices of all the creeps and thugs that the FBI employed over the last twenty-five years to spy on and persecute American citizens.  And he should quickly cancel all their passwords and clearance ratings so that they can never again cause us harm.  And while he’s at it put a blanket hold on FISA warrant requests and stop spying on Americans altogether.  That would really start the new administration on a patriotic foot.  That would really be a change for the better.

And if he really wants to release records that need de-classifying let him de-classify the records of the operations that targeted Americans; including the Russia collusion hoax.  Name names and appoint special counsels.  Put those guys in jail.  If need be, have the trials far away from Washington.  Maybe a small town in Florida or Texas.  They’re Americans too, I think.  They can provide the jury of twelve men and true, I believe.

Well, I’m letting myself run away with things but as I said I’m more excited about all this than I thought I’d be.  Good luck Donald Trump.  We’re all rooting for you.

Even If You Are from Queens

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At long last the abysmal presidency of zombie Joe Biden is finally about to end.  His re-animated corpse has been submerged in a large bottle of formaldehyde and all the pardons have been printed out and prepared for publication.  And now that they’re making up constitutional amendments out of whole cloth maybe we’ll find out that cats have been given citizenship just so the blue-haired crazy women will have another victory to embrace.

But the imminent departure of Biden has me considering the Trump phenomenon.  Even David Brooks had to grudgingly admit that “Trump is the most consequential politician since Reagan.”  And he means that negatively in that the American people have chosen Trump for the things that Brooks thinks are faults.  Well, what can you expect from David Brooks?

And you know, for most people the idea of Trump being part of our political world only began with 2016.  But I remember when Trump was trying to involve himself in politics as a young man in New York City.  It was back in the mid-eighties and New York was, as usual, broke and the skating rink in Central Park had completely disintegrated through neglect and there was no money in the budget to fix it.  Ed Koch was mayor and he was trying to spin some plan for Albany to pay for it but they wouldn’t bite.  Now this was about the time the city was going into another decline.  Violence was starting to resurface after a lull in the early eighties.  I think that maybe Trump was thinking of running for mayor or something.  Well, he volunteered to rebuild the rink and pay for it himself.  And he did, under budget and on schedule.  But New York City had not yet hit bottom.  It wasn’t ready for a Republican.  That would happen after New York’s first black mayor, David Dinkins unleashed anarchy on the streets of New York.  And that proved to be Rudy Giuliani’s time to fix the city.  But he had a lawman’s background as a prosecutor.  And he knew that the police would be the key to saving New York City.  So, Donald Trump retreated to his business and his entertainment projects.

But thirty years later he decided that if someone as talentless as Barack Obama could be president for eight years then he could easily figure out the ropes himself and get something done for America.  And he did.  But why?

I think I understand a little bit what motivates him.  He’s a twentieth century New York City American.  I also am one.  Of course he came from money.  But not old money.  His ancestors and mine came to the United States at about the same time.  He and I lived in New York City at the same time.  Of course, I came from the more interesting borough of Brooklyn and he came from Queens which as far as I’m concerned is more like part of Long Island but whatever, we both were part of twentieth century New York City which was the heart of twentieth century America.  And we both watched it degraded from the capitol of the world to a dirty, poor, crime-ridden refugee camp.  So, I think I know what he means when he talks about making America great again.  He’s talking about restoring the people and the ethos that catapulted the United States to the status it had in 1945.

He wants to make a deal with the descendants of the people who fought World War II.  If they’ll vote for him, he’ll save their grandchildren from the globalists who want to replace them with the third world.  It’s really a pretty simple concept.  Now I don’t know if he simply feels kinship with these people or if he sees an opportunity to capitalize on an underutilized resource (us).  Either way it’s the best deal we’ll ever get.  And at the same time, it’s a kick in the teeth for the Left and for the Bushes and Romneys.  Win, win.

So, thank you Donald Trump.  As an old neighbor of yours I salute you for lending a hand.  Even if you are from Queens.

Is That So Much to Ask?

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Recently I posted, “Cut and Paste Anglo-America.”  The post was linked by my favorite news aggregation site, “Whatfinger” and got a lot of visibility with folks who aren’t usually on the site.  One was a Canadian named Linn who wasn’t thrilled with my tongue in cheek idea of rearranging the two English speaking North American countries into a blue country and a red country.  Here’s what he had to say:

“I think it is offensive to assume Canadians would be blithely willing to give up their history and identity to become a part of the United States. It is ironic that President Trump ran on a patriotic campaign of Make America Great Again, but other Americans think that Canadians do not have the same patriotic feelings about their country even though the government had been usurped by the foul socialist left. Hopefully, Pierre Poilievre will make great strides in Making Canada Great Again.”

When I read his comment, my first thought was, “I’m glad not all Canadians hate Trump.”  Linn sounded like a Canadian patriot who wanted to get back his country from the Leftists.  Bravo!

And it made me think of how long ago it was when I thought we could win back the country just by electing Republicans.  How long ago I felt that the majority of Americans thought like me.  I guess it was in 2004; more than twenty years ago.  Wow, it seems even longer.  And I thought of all the disappointments and waking up to just how useless and dishonest the Republican establishment actually was.  Until Trump showed up it was Bushes, McCain and Romney all the way down.  So now even when we win, I find myself pessimistic.  After all the globalists control the whole apparatus of the modern world and do untold damage day in and day out.

But Linn’s comment got me thinking, there are good conservative people in most of the Western world.  Look at the right-wing parties growing larger in Canada, England, France, Germany, Holland and Italy.  Even Sweden and Denmark are beginning to come around.  And look how the Right has already taken control in Austria and Hungary.  And I’m sure there are conservative parties growing in every country in Europe.

Maybe it isn’t too late.  Maybe things will come to a head while Trump is in office.  Maybe we’ll see actual progress not just lip service to fixing the things that are broken.  What would make a big difference would be if Trump’s deportation effort worked well and became a template for the Europeans to follow.  Imagine if the French or the Italians were inspired to follow his lead and sent all the freeloaders packing.  Now that would be a miraculous sight.

I guess what I’m thinking is that maybe Trump is a leader for our side not only in America but around the world.  Maybe his example will rally people to the parties that want to take back their countries from the invaders.  His stubborn determination to get the job done is kind of a big deal and if he succeeds here other countries might follow his lead.  Everyone is always saying that America is the leader of the “free” world.  Well, why does free have to be code for leftist?  After all the leftists don’t want freedom anymore, except the freedom to define their sexuality in increasingly twisted and dysfunctional ways.  We want freedom of speech, thought, action and association.  We want freedom from being invaded by people who don’t like us or the way we live.  We want our country back.  Is that so much to ask?